Perform-ing Space

    The true intersection of performance and architecture lies in the idea of the event. The insertion of the human body, paired with its actions applies not only a greater understanding of the meaning of space, but creates space around it. We do not merely exist, but create. In many performances and choreography the main spatial cues are often the expressive movement of the dancers themselves, which only then allows the spectator to understand the entirety of the performance space. 

Perform - ing space is a comment on these very spaces through an exploration of the performance 'Ocellus' by the dance theatre company, Pilobolus. This piece deals with the continuity of the human form, with 4 performers who are constantly morphing their figure around one another with an uninterrupted connection to the other 3. To understand the space that this performance creates, I began to map the movements of each figure using purely line drawing. I then, brought my studies into the 3rd dimension, by mapping each movement with wire. In every few intervals, I wrapped the wire structure in a thin clay band to illustrate the space created by the performer's movements. 

Those studies then became the ground work for the structure itself. The spectator is elevated onto a "stage", as the space morphs in conjunction the movements of the dancers. This project is meant to create an active audience, as opposed to a passive one that merely sits and watches, but thrusts them into the very space created by the performance. It is a breaking of the 4th wall, and a merging of spectator and spectacle. The audience is meant to move around the entirety of the "stage" and speculate about this notion. It rids the performance of the burden of representation and creates a performance of perception.